Asus P5N-E SLI Motherboard Review – The 680i Killer

Asus and the Nvidia 650i SLI Chipset

Everyone knows that Asus is a company that puts out cutting edge technology. They have never held back and waited until the dust settles on new technology to see if they should jump in. The good thing about this is that we know that we are getting new technology from a well known, and well respected company. Enthusiasts know that they will likely get one of, if not the best, performing board in its class when it has the name Asus on it. The bad is that many times, the enthusiasts feel like “Beta testers” for new technology, and many times, they are.

Asus has already released their NV 680i chipset boards, in the form of the P5N32-E SLI and the Asus Striker Extreme. These boards are based on the best that Nvidia has to offer with the 680i chipset, but they also come at a premium price, or in the case the the Striker, an EXTREME price. These boards will run you anywhere from $300-400 repectively. That is a pretty hefty price to pay for a motherboard. The decision will be to get a board that costs that much, or find a board that is cheaper, and put your money into a faster CPU or GPU. I think the best choice is a faster CPU or GPU. Asus knows this as well, which is the reason for the review we have today. We are going to look at the Asus P5N-E SLI, which is an Asus board that is based on the Nvidia 650i chipset, and I think you will like what you see! This board is much more affordable, and you can actually find it at retailers now! A quick look at etailers has this board listed at around $140 from trusted sites. That is not too bad. But how much performance might we be losing by going with the 650i board? I think you will be quite pleased with the results!